What is it?
Wondrous Birth is based on the Biblical story of the birth of Jesus, as told in the gospel accounts of Matthew and Luke. Two unlikely friends, Balthazar (a wise man from the East, known as Balt) and Bartholomew (a Bethlehem shepherd, known as Bart) guide us from the Old Testament prophecies of Micah and Isaiah, through the accounts of the Angel Gabriel, Mary and Joseph, to the momentous event itself: the wondrous birth of Jesus.
Concept, original music and words by Paul M Harvey
All arrangements, additional words and ideas by Stuart R Brown
All material Copyright © Paul M Harvey and Stuart R Brown, 2024
Ideally you'd need ...
The set of available backing tracks (obviously!)
The Herald: a short spoken part, anyone who can speak and project clearly.
Bart: singer/actor, male, tenor/baritone.
Balt: singer/actor, male, bass/baritone.
Male soloist: singer, bass/baritone, for numbers 6, 18 and 26.
Lead female solist: singer, mezzo-soprano. Needs to be comfortable with both folk and rock styles of singing.
Mary: a young female voice, relaxed jazz style, for number 14.
Backing soloists (optional): anyone you want really, as long as they can sing harmony comfortably.
Children's choir.
Listen
The whole cantata, uninterrupted!
[Recording Copyright © Paul M Harvey and Stuart R Brown, August 2024]
All parts recorded separately and mastered in 32-bit float at 96kHz using Mixbus 10 from Harrison Audio.
We hope that this lovely performance featuring the amazing Vox Anesti, with maestro Stuart as The Herald and the spoken Bart, and Giovanni as the spoken Balt ... plus one sheep ... will inspire you to take further interest! All of these numbers use pre-prepared backing tracks, which are available should you wish to use them, from Bandcamp ... so your performance could sound just as good as this!
